Florence to Pesaro

On the road again – through Assisi and on to Pesaro on the east coast.  After all the early misgivings of our Florence accommodation, it turned out to be very handy and the two gentlemen really were trying to be friendly.  The place was obviously very old but was so clean and neat.

Our villa in Florence for 4 nights.

The driveway down to the villa.

First stop Assissi where Saint Francis made his name and was eventually buried.  It is the biggest Cathedral by far.  It is built on the side of a hill and consists of one cathedral on ground level on top of another Cathedral which is even bigger underneath it and dug into the side of the hill.  No photos allowed inside.   It is where the Franciscan Monks train and pray so attached are all the associated buildings for sleeping eating and study.  The whole town is very tourist aware with big carparks and a couple of escalators up the hills.

Panorama of the lawns and top Cathedral in Assisi.

Main street, Assisi.

On the wall.

Entrance of the lower Cathedral.

Steps to the upper level.

The Cloisters.

All stone and clay in Assisi.

Cathedrals from a distance.

On to the coast, through the Furlo Gorge, a geological fault through the Appenine Mountains.  The water was so green and the gorge so deep.  We could see fish in the water and the air was so clean and fresh.

Furlo Gorge

If only I had a fishing rod.

The road through the gorge.

Leaving the gorge we decided to go direct to the coast – Fano, a beach resort about 20 kilometres south of our ultimate destination – Pesaro.  Not like any beach resort in Australia, water is flat, there is hardly a spare spot on the beach between the rows and rows of umberellas and banana chairs.  We had an icecream and put out feet in the water.

The beach at Fano

Rock wall at Fano.

It got to about 4 o’clock, time to drive to the motel in Pesaro, park the car, relax with a quite drink.  We drove into Pesaro and it became increasingly obvious things were not as they should be.  Our motel was on the main square, right across from the beach – great spot you would think.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get within three blocks of our motels because of the largest markets in the world.  Pam got out of the car and walked to the motel to organise some parking.  No such luck….their response – very sorry, big party, many food, many things to buy, no parking, very sorry.  We drove around the block 5 times – each turn took about 20 minutes – until we found a park about 3 blocks from the motel.  We dragged our bags to the motel and finally got to our room at  6pm.

She was right – many foods, many things to buy.  We went and had a look at the beach, found a bar, watched the crowds while we relaxed.  The bar staff plied us with chips, peanuts, olives, pizza until we could eat no more.  We wandered through some of the markets and got back to the motel exhausted.  Hoping our car hasn’t been towed overnight.